CN115250425A

CN115250425A - Apparatus and method for UE positioning based on UL-AOA

Info

Publication number: CN115250425A
Application number: CN202210339339.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿列克谢·霍里亚耶夫; 谢尔盖·索斯宁; 阿尔乔姆·洛马耶夫
Original assignee: Intel Corp
Current assignee: Intel Corp
Priority date: 2021-04-02
Filing date: 2022-04-01
Publication date: 2022-10-28

Abstract

The present disclosure provides apparatus and methods for UL-AOA based UE positioning. The apparatus for TRP comprises: an interface circuit; and processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to: measuring a-AOA and a Z-AOA of an uplink transmission from the UE in a given coordinate system; generating a UL-AOA information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA; and providing the UL-AOA information element to the interface circuitry to report the UL-AOA information element to the LMF via the interface circuitry. In case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the A-AOA and the sine function of the Z-AOA.

Description

Apparatus and method for UE positioning based on UL-AOA

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for User Equipment (UE) positioning based on uplink angle of arrival (UL-AOA).

Background

Currently, in 5G or New Radio (NR) wireless communication networks, one or more positioning methods may be used to determine the location of a UE. Among these positioning methods, the UL-AOA positioning method utilizes a horizontal angle of arrival (a-AOA) and a vertical angle of arrival (Z-AOA) of uplink transmission from the UE for UE positioning.

Disclosure of Invention

An aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for transmitting a reception point (TRP), comprising: an interface circuit; and processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to: measuring a-AOA and Z-AOA of uplink transmissions from the UE in a given coordinate system; generating an uplink angle of arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA; and providing the UL-AOA information element to the interface circuitry to report the UL-AOA information element to the location management function LMF through the interface circuitry, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA, a sine function of which is defined as a product of a sine function of the a-AOA and a sine function of the Z-AOA.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for a location management function LMF, including: an interface circuit; and processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to: decoding an uplink angle of arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with the UE, the UL-AOA information element received from a transmission reception point, TRP, via an interface circuit; and calculating position coordinates of the UE based on the UL-AOA information element, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA, a sine function of the UL-AOA is defined as a product of a sine function of an a-AOA of an uplink transmission from the UE and a sine function of a Z-AOA of the uplink transmission, and the a-AOA and the Z-AOA are measured by the TRP in a given coordinate system.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.

Fig. 1 illustrates messaging between a Location Management Function (LMF), a 5G node B/transmission reception point (gNB/TRP), and a UE in an example UL-AOA positioning procedure.

Fig. 2 illustrates operations performed at a gNB/TRP for UL-AOA positioning, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 illustrates operations performed at an LMF for UL-AOA positioning, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example network in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments.

Detailed Description

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of the disclosure to others skilled in the art. However, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that many alternative embodiments may be practiced using portions of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The phrases "in an embodiment," "in one embodiment," and "in some embodiments" are used repeatedly herein. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may refer to the same embodiment. The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrases "A or B" and "A/B" mean "(A), (B) or (A and B)".

Currently, in 5G or New Radio (NR) wireless communication networks, one or more positioning methods may be used to determine the location of a UE. Among these positioning methods, the UL-AOA positioning method utilizes a horizontal angle of arrival (a-AOA) and a vertical angle of arrival (Z-AOA) of uplink transmission from the UE for UE positioning. A 5G node B (gNB) or a Transmission Reception Point (TRP) measures the a-AOA and Z-AOA of the uplink signal based on assistance data received from a positioning server, e.g., a Location Management Function (LMF), and reports the a-AOA and Z-AOA measurements to the positioning server. The location server may then estimate the location coordinates of the UE based on the A-AOA and Z-AOA measurements and other configuration information.

Figure 1 illustrates messaging between LMFs, gnbs/TRPs and UEs in an example UL-AOA location procedure. This example UL-AOA positioning procedure may be performed based on the NR positioning protocol a (NRPPa) specified in 3gpp TS 38.455 release 16. As shown in fig. 1, in step 0, the lmf can obtain NRPPa TRP configuration information required for UL-AOA positioning; in step 1, the lmf may request location capabilities of a target device (e.g., UE) using a Long Term Evolution (LTE) location protocol (LPP) capability transfer procedure; in step 2, the lmf may send a NRPPa location INFORMATION REQUEST (position INFORMATION REQUEST) message to the serving gNB/TRP to REQUEST uplink sounding reference signal (UL-SRS) configuration INFORMATION of the target device; in step 3, the serving gNB/TRP may determine resources available for UL-SRS, and configure a set of UL-SRS resources for the target device in step 3 a; at step 4, the serving gNB may provide UL-SRS configuration INFORMATION to the LMF in a NRPPa location INFORMATION RESPONSE (POSITIONING INFORMATION RESPONSE) message; in step 5a, the lmf may request to activate UE SRS transmission and send an NRPPa SRS activation request message to serving gNB/TRP of the target device, and then in step 5b, the gNB/TRP may activate UL-SRS transmission, and the target device may start UL-SRS transmission according to a time-domain behavior of UL-SRS resource configuration; in step 6, the lmf may provide the UL-SRS configuration to the selected gNB/TRP in an NRPPa MEASUREMENT REQUEST (MEASUREMENT REQUEST) message that includes all the information needed to enable the gNB/TRP to perform UL MEASUREMENTs; at step 7, each of the gNB/TRPs configured in step 6 may measure UL-SRS transmission from the target device, and then at step 8, each of the gNB/TRPs may report UL-SRS MEASUREMENT results to the LMF in an NRPPa MEASUREMENT RESPONSE (MEASUREMENT RESPONSE) message.

The UL-AOA positioning method defined according to 3gpp TS 38.455 version 16 supports angle measurement and defines procedures and Information Element (IE) formats for reporting UL-AOA estimated values to LMFs to calculate the location coordinates of UEs. For example, a UL-AOA IE containing UL-AOA measurements is defined in 3GPP TS 38.455 release 16, as shown below in Table 1.

Table 1: UL-AOA IE defined according to 3GPP TS 38.455 Release 16

UL-AOA IE defines a mandatory horizontal angle of arrival measured in the clockwise direction relative to the x-axis

And relative to given

An optional vertical angle of arrival (Z-AOA) θ measured along the Z-axis in the corresponding vertical plane. Measurements may be performed with respect to a Local Coordinate System (LCS) or a Global Coordinate System (GCS), which is indicated by the third optional field provided in table 1.

It should be noted that in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, which may be configured as a horizontal linear array (or a single-sided antenna array) and has a symmetric radiation pattern, the UL-AOA cannot be decoupled between the a-AOA and Z-AOA measurements. Thus, the existing UL-AOA IE as shown in table 1 may need to be modified to support UL-AOA reporting for positioning of UEs equipped with linear antenna arrays.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, the report may be made

Rather than to

And Z-AOA theta, and a salt thereof,

can be defined as

In other words, reported

Is a sine function of

And the product of the sine function of Z-AOA θ.

For example, UL-AOA IEs for positioning of UEs having linear antenna arrays may be defined as shown in tables 2 and 3 below.

Table 2: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

Table 3: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

As shown in tables 2 and 3, the proposed UL-AOA IE may include a field defined as

Is mandatory

Wherein

Is the measured A-AOA, and θ is the measured Z-AOA.

Alternatively, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, it is proposed to use the LCS to GCS transfer function and set the z-axis of the LCS along the linear array axis of the linear antenna array of the UE. In these embodiments, the gNB/TRP may report only the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS, and then may set a particular Z-axis direction using the LCS-GCS transfer function to determine the location coordinates of the UE by the LMF based on the reported Z-AOA.

It is worth noting that in practice the reported sine function of the Z-AOA measured in an LCS with the Z-axis direction specifically chosen can still be expressed as a product

Wherein

And θ is A-AOA and Z-AOA, respectively, as defined in GCS.

In this case, for example, UL-AOA IEs for positioning of UEs having linear antenna arrays may be defined as shown in tables 4 to 7 below.

IE/group name	Exist of	Range	IE type and reference	Semantic description
					Angle of arrival horizontally	Optionally	INTEGER(0..3599)	TS 38.133[16]
Perpendicular angle of arrival	Force the property of		INTEGER(0..1799)	TS 38.133[16]
					Angular coordinate system	Optionally	LCS

Table 4: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

Table 5: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

IE/group name	Exist of	Range	IE type and reference	Semantic description
					Perpendicular angle of arrival	Force the property of	INTEGER(0..1799)	TS 38.133[16]
Angular coordinate system	Optionally		LCS

Table 6: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

IE/group name	Exist of	Range	IE type and reference	Semantic description
					Perpendicular angle of arrival	Mandatory property		INTEGER(0..1799)	TS 38.133[16]

Table 7: example UL-AOA IE for positioning of UEs with linear antenna arrays

As shown in tables 4-7, the proposed UL-AOA IE may include a mandatory Z-AOA measured in an LCS relative to a Z-axis of the LCS defined along a linear array axis of a linear antenna array of the UE.

According to the UL-AOA location procedure shown in fig. 1, the lmf may provide the UL-SRS configuration to the selected gNB/TRP in an NRPPa MEASUREMENT REQUEST message, which includes all the information needed to enable the gNB/TRP to perform UL MEASUREMENTs, step 6. As specified in 3gpp TS 38.455 release 16, a Search Window (Search Window) information element is defined as part of a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message sent by the LMF for requesting the gbb/TRP to configure location MEASUREMENTs. The search window information element defined in the 3gpp TS 38.455 release 16 is shown in table 8 below.

Table 8: search window information element defined according to 3GPP TS 38.455 Release 16

As shown in table 8, the search window IE includes two mandatory fields: an expected propagation delay field and a delay uncertainty field. The expected propagation delay field indicates when the UL-SRS is expected to arrive at the gNB/TRP in time relative to an uplink relative time of arrival (UL RTOA) reference time. The delay uncertainty field indicates the uncertainty range of the expected time of arrival of the UL-SRS at the TRP.

By defining the system frame number n of the UL-SRS _f And subframe number n _sf An UL RTOA reference time for a target UL-SRS signal is determined relative to a Single Frequency Network (SFN) initialization time.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, similar to the Search window information element, it is proposed to encode the Search Angle information element as part of a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message sent by the LMF to REQUEST the NG-RAN node to configure location MEASUREMENTs.

For example, the search angle information element may include five fields: anticipation of

Uncertainty range of expected Z-AOA theta, A-AOA

The uncertainty range Δ θ of the Z-AOA, and the type of coordinate system used for UL-AOA measurements. Thus, the expected range of A-AOA can be defined as

The expected range of Z-AOA can be defined as (θ - Δ θ/2, θ + Δ θ/2).

Using the search angle information element, the angle search range can be reduced by specifying the expected A-AOA and Z-AOA and the uncertainty range of the A-AOA and Z-AOA. First, the beam scanning overhead can be reduced, especially in the case of FR2 transmission/reception. Second, it can avoid ambiguity problems when it is possible to report multiple A-AOAs and Z-AOAs based on the estimation (e.g., due to ambiguity of the sine function). For example, using the search angle information element, the LMF may specify a valid angle range for the UL-AOA report, e.g., based on previously estimated coordinates of the UE.

In addition, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the association of the search angle IE and the search window IE may be established such that the combination of the two IEs may specify the expected space-time occurrence of the UL-SRS resource. In other words, the search angle and time window parameters for UL-AOA and RTOA MEASUREMENTs may be specified in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message sent from LMF to gNB/TRP for configuring positioning MEASUREMENTs at the gNB/TRP.

As described above, during positioning measurement of gNB/TRP, it is possible to obtain multiple A-AOAs and Z-AOAs for uplink transmission from a UE. In the present disclosure, it is proposed to report multiple A-AOAs and Z-AOAs for a first arrival path (first arrival path) from a UE. For example, in the case where the antenna panel of the gNB/TRP or UE can receive signals from both front and rear directions, since the characteristics of the sinusoidal function (i.e.,

) The uplink A-AOA may be in

And

there is ambiguity between. Thus, the gNB/TRP may not be able to decide that it should be

Or also

Report to the LMF and may need to be

And

the A-AOA as measured is reported to LMF.

Thus, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, it is proposed that the gNB/TRP may derive N A-AOA measurements and N Z-AOA measurements by measuring A-AOA and Z-AOA for the first-arrival path from the UE; generating N UL-AOA values based on the N A-AOA measurement values and the N Z-AOA measurement values; and reporting N UL-AOA values to the LMF, wherein the value N is selected from the set of values {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.

Furthermore, reporting on AOA measurements may be applied in a multiple time evolution map (multiple TEG) gNB/TRP calibration process using a reference device in order to identify non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) links between the reference device and the gNB/TRP. The multiple TEG gNB/TRP calibration procedure may rely on the following assumptions: all links used in the calibration process are LOS links (i.e., LOS-centric solutions). If one of the transmit or receive chains used in the calibration process is an NLOS chain, excessive propagation delay due to NLOS propagation phenomena may be introduced in addition to timing errors.

This problem is particularly important in the case where the reference device is a reference UE. In this case, the reference UE may be located at a lower elevation than the gNB/TRP, and thus the signal between the reference UE and the gNB/TRP may experience NLOS propagation. To avoid the NLOS over-propagation delay estimation during the calibration procedure and to introduce extra bias into the timing error estimation, the reference UE needs to inform the gNB/TRP and/or LMF that the used link is essentially an NLOS link.

If the reference UE transmits and receives using multiple TEGs, the reference UE may report the error margin of each TEG to the gNB/TRP and/or LMF. If the error estimate between the measured propagation time and the reference time derived from the known coordinates of the reference UE and the gNB/TRP exceeds the reported error tolerance, it may indicate that the link is an NLOS link.

In the present disclosure, it is proposed to use AOA measurements in addition to timing measurements to improve the reliability of LOS link identification required in the timing error calibration process. The angle measurements are not affected by timing errors and the performance of LOS link identification can be improved using these measurements.

The reference UE may have location coordinates known to the LMF and may also have a known spatial antenna direction. In this case, if the reference UE is equipped with a multi-element antenna array, the reference UE may perform downlink angle of arrival (DL-AOA) measurements. Thus, both the reference UE and the gNB/TRP may perform angle-of-arrival measurements.

For example, in case of using DL-AOA measurement, the ith gNB/TRP may send reference signals to the reference UE so that the reference UE may measure A-AOA and Z-AOA

And reports them to the LMF. The reference UE may also report an angle error tolerance

Which indicates the maximum estimation error associated with the DL-AOA measurement. The LMF may perform the following calculations to identify the NLOS link as shown in equation (1).

In the case of the equation (1),

for the measured downlink A-AOA, theta _i-UE For the measured downlink Z-AOA, phi _i-UE For a reference downlink A-AOA, Θ derived based on known position coordinates of a reference UE and an ith gNB/TRP _i-UE For a reference downlink Z-AOA derived based on known location coordinates of the reference UE and the ith gNB/TRP,

is the error margin, Δ θ, associated with the downlink A-AOA measurement _i-UE Is the error margin associated with the downlink Z-AOA measurement.

If the difference between the measured A-AOA and the reference A-AOA or between the measured Z-AOA and the reference Z-AOA is

Or (theta) _i-UE –Θ _i-UE ) Exceeding the tolerance of the error

(or. DELTA.theta.) _i-UE ) A defined threshold, the LMF may classify the link as an NLOS link.

In case of using UL-AOA measurement, the reference UE may transmit a reference signal to the ith gNB/TRP so that the ith gNB/TRP may measure A-AOA and Z-AOA

And reports them to the LMF. The ith gNB/TRP can also report the angular error tolerance

Which indicates the maximum estimation error associated with the UL-AOA measurement. The LMF may perform the following calculations to identify the NLOS link as shown in equation (2).

In the case of the equation (2),

is the measured uplink A-AOA, θ _UE-i Is the measured uplink Z-AOA, phi _UE-i Is a reference uplink A-AOA, Θ, derived based on known location coordinates of the reference UE and the ith gNB/TRP _UE-i For a reference uplink Z-AOA derived based on known location coordinates of the reference UE and the ith gNB/TRP,

is the error margin, Δ θ, associated with the uplink A-AOA measurement _UE-i Is the error margin associated with the uplink Z-AOA measurement.

Or (theta) _UE-i –Θ _UE-i ) Exceeding the tolerance of the error

(or. DELTA.theta.) _UE-i ) A defined threshold, the LMF may classify the link as an NLOS link.

Based on the considerations discussed above, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF may decode the reference UE's UL-AOA, which is measured and reported by the gNB/TRP based on the reference signals received from the reference UE; decoding an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE from the gNB/TRP report; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the gNB/TRP as an NLOS link when a difference between the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE.

In an embodiment, the measured UL-AOAs of the reference UE comprise measured uplink a-AOAs and measured uplink Z-AOAs of the reference UE, the error margins comprise an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOAs of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOAs of the reference UE, and the reference UL-AOAs of the reference UE comprise a reference uplink a-AOA and a reference uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the gNB/TRP known by the LMF.

On the other hand, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF may decode the DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP, which is measured and reported by the reference UE based on the reference signals received from the gNB/TRP; decoding an error margin associated with the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP reported from the reference UE; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the gNB/TRP as an NLOS link when a difference between the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP and the reference DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP.

In an embodiment, the measured DL-AOAs of the gbb/TRP comprise measured downlink a-AOAs and measured downlink Z-AOAs of the gbb/TRP, the error margins comprise an error margin associated with the measured downlink a-AOAs of the gbb/TRP and an error margin associated with the measured downlink Z-AOAs of the gbb/TRP, and the reference DL-AOAs of the gbb/TRP comprise a reference downlink a-AOA and a reference downlink Z-AOA of the gbb/TRP derived by the LMF based on LMF-known reference UEs and location coordinates of the gbb/TRP.

Operations for UL-AOA positioning to be performed at the gNB/TRP and LMF according to some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in further detail below with reference to fig. 2 and 3.

Fig. 2 illustrates operations performed at a gNB/TRP for UL-AOA positioning, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

At operation 210, the gNB/TRP may measure the A-AOA and Z-AOA of the uplink transmission from the UE in a given coordinate system.

At operation 220, the gNB/TRP may generate a UL-AOA information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA. In the case where the UE includes a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element may include a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the A-AOA and the sine function of the Z-AOA.

At operation 230, the gNB/TRP may report the UL-AOA information element to the LMF.

According to some embodiments, the given coordinate system may comprise an LCS or a GCS.

According to some embodiments, where the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with the linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

In accordance with some embodiments, where the UE includes a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element may include a mandatory field to indicate Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate a-AOA.

According to some embodiments, the gNB/TRP may measure the a-AOA and the Z-AOA based on a search angle information element received from the LMF, the search angle information element indicating an expected a-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system.

According to some embodiments, the gNB/TRP may determine the expected range of the A-AOA and the expected range of the Z-AOA based on a search angle information element. The expected range of A-AOA is from the expected A-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of A-AOA to the expected A-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of A-AOA, and the expected range of Z-AOA is from the expected Z-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of Z-AOA.

According to some embodiments, the gNB/TRP may obtain N A-AOA measurements and N Z-AOA measurements by measuring A-AOA and Z-AOA for a first-arrival path from the UE; generating N UL-AOA values based on the N A-AOA measurement values and the N Z-AOA measurement values; and reporting N UL-AOA values to the LMF, wherein the value N is selected from the following set of values: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.

According to some embodiments, the gNB/TRP may measure the UL-AOA of a reference UE based on reference signals received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and antenna direction known to the LMF; and reporting the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE to the LMF.

According to some embodiments, the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE comprises a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the error tolerance comprises an error tolerance associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error tolerance associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE.

According to some embodiments, the gNB/TRP may encode reference signals for DL-AOA measurements of reference UEs equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; and transmits the reference signal to the reference UE.

At operation 310, the LMF may decode a UL-AOA information element associated with the UE received from the gNB/TRP. In case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element may comprise a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the a-AOA of the uplink transmission from the UE and the sine function of the Z-AOA of the uplink transmission, and the a-AOA and the Z-AOA are measured by the gNB/TRP in a given coordinate system.

At operation 320, the LMF may calculate location coordinates of the UE based on the UL-AOA information element.

According to some embodiments, the LMF may encode a search angle information element in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating to the gNB/TRP the expected A-AOA, the expected Z-AOA, the uncertainty range of the A-AOA, the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and the type of the given coordinate system; and sends a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message to the gNB/TRP.

According to some embodiments, the expected range of the A-AOA is from the expected A-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA to the expected A-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA is from the expected Z-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

According to some embodiments, the LMF may encode a search window information element in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating the expected propagation delay and delay uncertainty to the gNB/TRP.

According to some embodiments, the LMF may decode the reference UE's UL-AOA, which is measured and reported by the gNB/TRP based on the reference signals received from the reference UE; decoding an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE from the gNB/TRP report; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the gNB/TRP as an NLOS link when a difference between the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE.

In an embodiment, the measured UL-AOAs of the reference UE may include a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, the error tolerance may include an error tolerance associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error tolerance associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE may include a reference uplink a-AOA and a reference uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the gNB/TRP known to the LMF.

According to some embodiments, the LMF may decode a DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP, which is measured and reported by the reference UE based on reference signals received from the gNB/TRP; decoding an error margin associated with the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP reported from the reference UE; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the gNB/TRP as an NLOS link when a difference between the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP and the reference DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured DL-AOA of the gNB/TRP.

In an embodiment, the measured DL-AOAs of the gbb/TRP may comprise a measured downlink a-AOA and a measured downlink Z-AOA of the gbb/TRP, the error margins may comprise an error margin associated with the measured downlink a-AOA of the gbb/TRP and an error margin associated with the measured downlink Z-AOA of the gbb/TRP, and the reference DL-AOA of the gbb/TRP may comprise a reference downlink a-AOA and a reference downlink Z-AOA of the gbb/TRP derived by the LMF based on LMF-known reference UEs and location coordinates of the gbb/TRP.

Fig. 4 and 5 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of the disclosed embodiments.

Fig. 4 shows a diagram of a network 400 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The network 400 may operate in a manner consistent with the 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this respect, and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks, such as future 3GPP systems and the like, that benefit from the principles described herein.

Network 400 may include a UE 402, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with RAN 404 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 402 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment device, in-vehicle entertainment device, instrument cluster, heads-up display device, in-vehicle diagnostic device, dashboard mobile device, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, ioT device, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the network 400 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other through edge link interfaces. The UE may be an M2M/D2D device that communicates using a physical side link channel (e.g., without limitation, a physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical side link discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH), a physical side link control channel (PSCCH), a physical side link fundamental channel (PSFCH), etc.).

In some embodiments, the UE 402 may also communicate with the AP 406 over an over-the-air connection. The AP 406 may manage WLAN connections, which may be used to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 404. The connection between the UE 402 and the AP 406 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.13 protocol, where the AP 406 may be wireless fidelity

A router. In some embodiments, the UE 402, RAN 404, and AP 406 may utilize cellular WLAN aggregation (e.g., LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA)/lightweight IP (LWIP)). Cellular WLAN aggregation may involve a UE 402 configured by a RAN 404 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 404 may include one or more Access Nodes (ANs), such as AN 408.AN 408 may terminate air interface protocols of UE 402 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), radio Link Control (RLC), medium Access Control (MAC), and L1 protocols. In this manner, AN 408 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 420 and UE 402. In some embodiments, AN 408 may be implemented in a separate device or as one or more software entities running on a server computer, as part of a virtual network, for example, which may be referred to as a CRAN or pool of virtual baseband units. AN 408 may be referred to as a Base Station (BS), a gNB, a RAN node, AN evolved node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a node B (NodeB), a roadside unit (RSU), a TRxP, a TRP, etc. AN 408 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station that provides a microcell, picocell, or other similar cell with smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

In embodiments where the RAN 404 comprises multiple ANs, they may be coupled to each other over AN X2 interface (in the case where the RAN 404 is AN LTE RAN) or AN Xn interface (in the case where the RAN 404 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interface, which in some embodiments may be separated into a control plane interface/user plane interface, may allow the AN to communicate information related to handover, data/context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The AN of the RAN 404 may each manage one or more cells, groups of cells, component carriers, etc., to provide the UE 402 with AN air interface for network access. The UE 402 may be simultaneously connected with multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 404. For example, the UE 402 and RAN 404 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 402 to connect with multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a primary cell (Pcell) or a secondary cell (Scell). In a dual connectivity scenario, a first AN may be a master node providing a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a second AN may be a secondary node providing a Secondary Cell Group (SCG). The first/second AN can be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

The RAN 404 may provide an air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in unlicensed spectrum, a node may use a Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), enhanced LAA (eLAA), and/or further enhanced LAA (feLAA) mechanism based on Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology with PCell/Scell. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform a media/carrier sensing operation based on, for example, a Listen Before Talk (LBT) protocol.

In a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenario, the UE 402 or AN 408 may be or act as a Road Side Unit (RSU), which may refer to any transport infrastructure entity for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by AN appropriate AN or stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU"; the RSU implemented in or by the eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU"; RSUs implemented in or by a next generation NodeB (gNB) may be referred to as "gNB-type RSUs"; and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located at the roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications/software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, e.g., collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU may be enclosed in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 404 may be an LTE RAN 410, including an evolved node B (eNB), e.g., eNB 412. The LTE RAN 410 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS at 15 kHz; a CP-OFDM waveform for DL and an SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control, etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; relying on a PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and rely on CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate over the sub-6 GHz band.

In some embodiments, RAN 404 may be a Next Generation (NG) -RAN 414 with a gNB (e.g., gNB 416) or gn-eNB (e.g., NG-eNB 418). The gNB 416 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 416 may be connected to the 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The Ng-eNB 418 may also be connected with the 5G core over the Ng interface, but may be connected with the UE over the LTE air interface. The gNB 416 and ng-eNB 418 may be connected to each other through an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be divided into two parts, a NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between nodes of NG-RAN 414 and UPF 448, and a NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface (e.g., N2 interface) between NG-RAN 414 and nodes of access and mobility management function (AMF) 444.

NG-RAN 414 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM for UL, and DFT-s-OFDM; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller (Reed-Muller) codes for control, and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; performing phase tracking of the PDSCH using the PTRS; and time tracking using the tracking reference signal. The 5G-NR air interface may operate over the FR1 band, which includes the sub-6 GHz band, or the FR2 band, which includes the 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz band. The 5G-NR air interface may include SSBs, which are regions of a downlink resource grid including PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may use BWP for various purposes. For example, BWP may be used for dynamic adaptation of SCS. For example, UE 402 may be configured with multiple BWPs, where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When the BWP is indicated to the UE 402 to change, the SCS of the transmission also changes. Another use case for BWP is related to power saving. In particular, the UE 402 may be configured with multiple BWPs with different numbers of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission in different traffic load scenarios. BWPs containing a smaller number of PRBs may be used for data transmission with smaller traffic load while allowing power savings at UE 402 and, in some cases, at gNB 416. BWPs containing a large number of PRBs may be used in scenarios with higher traffic loads.

The RAN 404 is communicatively coupled to a CN 420, which includes network elements, to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of the UEs 402). The components of CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or in different physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of CN 420 onto physical computing/storage resources in servers, switches, and the like. Logical instances of CN 420 may be referred to as network slices, and logical instantiations of portions of CN 420 may be referred to as network subslices.

In some embodiments, CN 420 may be LTE CN 422, which may also be referred to as Evolved Packet Core (EPC). LTE CN 422 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 424, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 426, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 428, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 430, a Proxy Gateway (PGW) 432, and a policy control and charging rules function (PCRF) 434, which are coupled to each other by an interface (or "reference point") as shown. The functions of the elements of LTE CN 422 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 424 may implement mobility management functions to track the current location of the UE 402 to facilitate patrol, bearer activation/deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 426 may terminate the S1 interface towards the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 422. SGW 426 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3 GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, billing, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 428 can track the location of the UE 402 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 428 may perform EPC inter-node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection specified by MME 424; MME selection for handover, etc. An S3 reference point between the MME 424 and the SGSN 428 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3 GPP access network mobility in idle/active state.

HSS 430 may include a database for network users that includes subscription-related information that supports network entities handling communication sessions. HSS 430 may provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependency, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 430 and the MME 424 may enable transmission of subscription and authentication data to authenticate/authorize user access to the LTE CN 420.

PGW 432 may terminate the SGi interface towards a Data Network (DN) 436 that may include an application/content server 438. PGW 432 may route data packets between LTE CN 422 and data network 436. PGW 432 may be coupled with SGW 426 via an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. PGW 432 may also include nodes (e.g., PCEFs) for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Additionally, the SGi reference point between PGW 432 and data network 436 may be, for example, an operator external public, private PDN, or an operator internal packet data network for providing IMS services. PGW 432 may be coupled with PCRF 434 via a Gx reference point.

PCRF 434 is the policy and charging control element of LTE CN 422. PCRF 434 can be communicatively coupled to application/content server 438 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for the service flow. The PCRF 432 can provide the associated rules to the PCEF (via the Gx reference point) with the appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, CN 420 may be a 5G core network (5 GC) 440. The 5GC 440 may include an authentication server function (AUSF) 442, an access and mobility management function (AMF) 444, a Session Management Function (SMF) 446, a User Plane Function (UPF) 448, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 450, a network open function (NEF) 452, an NF storage function (NRF) 454, a Policy Control Function (PCF) 456, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 458, and an Application Function (AF) 460, which are coupled to each other by an interface (or "reference point") as shown. The function of the elements of the 5GC 440 can be briefly described as follows.

The AUSF 442 may store data for authentication of the UE 402 and handle authentication related functions. The AUSF 442 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 442 may exhibit a Nausf service based interface in addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 440 through reference points as shown.

The AMF 444 may allow other functions of the 5GC 440 to communicate with the UE 402 and the RAN 404 and subscribe to notifications regarding mobility events for the UE 402. The AMF 444 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., registering UEs 402), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 444 may provide for the transmission of Session Management (SM) messages between UE 402 and SMF 446 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 444 may also provide for the transmission of SMS messages between the UE 402 and the SMSF. The AMF 444 may interact with the AUSF 442 and the UE 402 to perform various security anchoring and context management functions. Further, the AMF 444 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 404 and the AMF 444; the AMF 444 may serve as a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. The AMF 444 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 402 over the N3 IWF interface.

SMF 446 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 448 and AN 408); UE IP address assignment and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of the UP function; configuring flow control at the UPF 448 to route the traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of the interface to the policy control function; controlling a portion of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface to the LI system); terminate the SM portion of the NAS message; a downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM message (sent to AN 408 over N2 through AMF 444); and determining an SSC pattern for the session. SM may refer to the management of PDU sessions, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 402 and the data network 436.

The UPF 448 may serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point to interconnect with the data network 436, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 448 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane part of policy rules, lawful intercepted packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 448 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network.

NSSF 450 may select a set of network slice instances that serve UE 402. NSSF 450 may also determine allowed Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) and mapping to a single NSSAI (S-NSSAI) of the subscription, if desired. The NSSF 450 may also determine a set of AMFs to be used to serve the UE 402, or determine a list of candidate AMFs, based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 454. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 402 may be triggered by the AMF 444 (with which the UE 402 registers by interacting with the NSSF 450), which may result in a change in the AMF. NSSF 450 may interact with AMF 444 via the N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Further, NSSF 450 may expose an interface based on the NSSF service.

NEF 452 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal disclosure/re-disclosure, AF (e.g., AF 460), edge computing or fog computing systems, and the like. In these embodiments, NEF 452 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle AF. NEF 452 may also translate information exchanged with AF 460 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 452 may translate between the AF service identifier and the internal 5GC information. NEF 452 may also receive information from other NFs based on their public capabilities. This information may be stored as structured data at NEF 452 or at data store NF using a standardized interface. NEF 452 may then re-disclose the stored information to other NFs and AFs, or for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 452 may expose an interface based on the Nnef service.

NRF 454 may support a service discovery function, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 454 also maintains information on available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instance," and the like, may refer to creating an instance, "instance" may refer to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Further, NRF 454 may expose an interface based on the nrrf service.

PCF 456 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them and may also support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior. PCF 456 may also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 458. In addition to communicating with functions through reference points as shown, PCF 456 also presents an interface based on Npcf services.

UDM 458 may process subscription-related information to support network entities handling communication sessions, and may store subscription data for UE 402. For example, subscription data may be transmitted via an N8 reference point between UDM 458 and AMF 444. UDM 458 may include two parts: front end and UDR are applied. The UDR may store policy data and subscription data for UDM 458 and PCF 456, and/or structured data and application data for disclosure (including PFD for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 402) for NEF 452. UDR 221 may expose an Nudr service-based interface to allow UDM 458, PCF 456, and NEF 452 to access a particular collection of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE that is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, and the like. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. UDM 458 may also exhibit a Nudm service based interface in addition to communicating with other NFs through reference points as shown.

AF 460 may provide application impact on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 440 may enable edge computation by selecting an operator/third party service that is geographically close to the point at which the UE 402 attaches to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide an edge calculation implementation, the 5GC 440 may select a UPF 448 near the UE 402 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 448 to the data network 436 over the N6 interface. This may be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by AF 460. In this way, the AF 460 may affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, the network operator may permit AF 460 to interact directly with the relevant NFs when AF 460 is considered a trusted entity. In addition, AF 460 may expose a Naf service based interface.

The data network 436 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, an application/content server 438.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a wireless network 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 500 may include a UE 502 in wireless communication with AN 504. The UE 502 and the AN 504 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the co-located components described elsewhere herein.

The UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with AN 504 via a connection 506. Connection 506 is shown as an air interface to enable communicative coupling and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) or sub-6 GHz frequencies, such as the LTE protocol or the 5G NR protocol.

UE 502 may include a host platform 508 coupled with a modem platform 510. Host platform 508 can include application processing circuitry 512, which can be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 514 of modem platform 510. Application processing circuitry 512 may run various applications of source/receiver application data for UE 502. Application processing circuitry 512 may also implement one or more layer operations to send/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

Protocol processing circuitry 514 may implement one or more layers of operations to facilitate the transmission or reception of data over connection 506. Layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuit 514 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

Modem platform 510 may further include digital baseband circuitry 516, which digital baseband circuitry 516 may implement one or more layer operations of "lower" layer operations performed by protocol processing circuitry 514 in the network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, wherein these functions may include one or more of: space-time, space-frequency, or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

Modem platform 510 may further include transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, and RF front end (RFFE) circuitry 524, which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 526. Briefly, the transmit circuit 518 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, intermediate Frequency (IF) components, and the like; the receive circuitry 520 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF components, and the like; RF circuitry 522 may include low noise amplifiers, power tracking components, and the like; RFFE circuitry 524 may include filters (e.g., surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beam forming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), and so forth. The selection and arrangement of components of transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, RFFE circuitry 524, and antenna panel 526 (collectively, "transmit/receive components") may be specific to details of a particular implementation, e.g., whether the communication is TDM or FDM, at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, and may be arranged in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 514 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for the transmit/receive components.

UE reception may be established by and via antenna panel 526, RFFE circuitry 524, RF circuitry 522, receive circuitry 520, digital baseband circuitry 516, and protocol processing circuitry 514. In some embodiments, antenna panel 526 may receive transmissions from AN 504 by receiving beamformed signals received by multiple antennas/antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 526.

UE transmissions may be established via and through protocol processing circuitry 514, digital baseband circuitry 516, transmit circuitry 518, RF circuitry 522, RFFE circuitry 524, and antenna panel 526. In some embodiments, the transmit component of the UE 504 may apply spatial filters to the data to be transmitted to form the transmit beams transmitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panel 526.

Similar to the UE 502, the AN 504 may include a host platform 528 coupled with a modem platform 530. Host platform 528 may include application processing circuitry 532 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 534 of modem platform 530. The modem platform may also include digital baseband circuitry 536, transmit circuitry 538, receive circuitry 540, RF circuitry 542, RFFE circuitry 544, and antenna panel 546. The components of AN 504 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, the synonymous components of UE 502. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of AN 508 may perform various logical functions including, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. In particular, fig. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 600, which includes one or more processors (or processor cores) 610, one or more memory/storage devices 620, and one or more communication resources 630, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 640. Hardware resources 600 may be part of a UE, AN, or LMF. For embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), hypervisor 602 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/subslices to utilize hardware resources 600.

Processor 610, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof, may include, for example, processor 612 and processor 614.

Memory/storage 620 may include a main memory, a disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage 620 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), static Random Access Memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state storage, and the like.

The communication resources 630 may include interconnect or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripherals 604 or one or more databases 606 via a network 608. For example, the communication resources 630 can include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, bluetooth

Components (e.g., bluetooth low energy), wi-Fi components, and other communication components.

The instructions 650 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 610 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 650 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of: the processor 610 (e.g., within a buffer memory of the processor), the memory/storage 620, or any suitable combination thereof. Further, any portion of instructions 650 may be communicated to hardware resource 600 from any combination of peripherals 604 or database 606. Thus, the memories of processor 610, memory/storage 620, peripheral 604, and database 606 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.

Example 1 includes an apparatus for transmitting a reception point TRP, comprising: an interface circuit; and processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to: measuring a horizontal angle of arrival A-AOA and a vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of an uplink transmission from a user equipment UE in a given coordinate system; generating an uplink angle of arrival (UL-AOA) information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA; and providing the UL-AOA information element to the interface circuitry for reporting the UL-AOA information element to a location management function LMF through the interface circuitry, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the a-AOA and the sine function of the Z-AOA.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a local coordinate system LCS or a global coordinate system GCS.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 2, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 3, wherein, in a case where the UE includes the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element includes a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the a-AOA.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 4, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to measure the a-AOA and the Z-AOA based on a search angle information element received from the LMF via the interface circuitry, the search angle information element indicating an expected a-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 5, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine, based on the search angle information element, an expected range of the a-AOA and an expected range of the Z-AOA, the expected range of the a-AOA being from the expected a-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA to the expected a-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA being from the expected Z-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of any of examples 1-6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: obtaining N A-AOA measurements and N Z-AOA measurements by measuring the A-AOA and the Z-AOA for an first arrival path from a UE; generating N UL-AOA values based on the N A-AOA measurements and the N Z-AOA measurements; and reporting the N UL-AOA values to the LMF, wherein value N is selected from the following set of values: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 7, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: measuring a UL-AOA of a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF; and reporting the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE to the LMF.

Example 9 includes the apparatus of example 8, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the error margin includes an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE.

Example 10 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 7, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: encoding a reference signal for downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, measurements for a reference UE equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; and provide the reference signal to the interface circuitry for transmission to the reference UE.

Example 11 includes an apparatus for a location management function, LMF, comprising: an interface circuit; and processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to: decoding an uplink angle of arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with a user equipment, UE, the UL-AOA information element received from a transmission reception point, TRP, via the interface circuitry; and calculating location coordinates of the UE based on the UL-AOA information element, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of a sine function of a horizontal angle of arrival a-AOA of an uplink transmission from the UE and a sine function of a vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of the uplink transmission, and the a-AOA and the Z-AOA are measured by the TRP in a given coordinate system.

Example 12 includes the apparatus of example 11, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a local coordinate system LCS or a global coordinate system GCS.

Example 13 includes the apparatus of example 12, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

Example 14 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein, in a case where the UE includes the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element includes a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the a-AOA.

Example 15 includes the apparatus of any of examples 11 to 14, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: encoding a search angle information element in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating to the TRP an expected A-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the A-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system; and providing the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message to the interface circuit for transmission to the TRP.

Example 16 includes the apparatus of example 15, wherein the expected range of the a-AOA is from the expected a-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA to the expected a-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA is from the expected Z-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

Example 17 includes the apparatus of example 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: a search window information element is encoded in the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating an expected propagation delay and a delay uncertainty to the TRP.

Example 18 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 11 to 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: decoding a UL-AOA of a reference UE measured and reported by the TRP based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF; decoding an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE from the TRP report; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non line-of-sight NLOS link when a difference between the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE.

Example 19 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, the error margin includes an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a reference uplink a-AOA and a reference uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the TRP known by the LMF.

Example 20 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 11 to 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: decoding a downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, of the TRP measured and reported by a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the TRP, the reference UE being equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; decoding an error margin associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP reported from the reference UE; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non-line of sight (NLOS) link when a difference between the measured DL-AOA of the TRP and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP.

Example 21 includes the apparatus of example 20, wherein the measured DL-AOA of the TRP includes a measured downlink a-AOA and a measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, the error margins include an error margin associated with the measured downlink a-AOA of the TRP and an error margin associated with the measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP includes a reference downlink a-AOA and a reference downlink Z-AOA of the TRP derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the TRP known to the LMF.

Example 22 includes a method for transmitting a reception point TRP, comprising: measuring a horizontal angle of arrival A-AOA and a vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of an uplink transmission from a user equipment UE in a given coordinate system; generating an uplink angle-of-arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA; and reporting the UL-AOA information element to a location management function LMF, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the a-AOA and the sine function of the Z-AOA.

Example 23 includes the method of example 22, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a local coordinate system LCS or a global coordinate system GCS.

Example 24 includes the method of example 23, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

Example 25 includes the method of example 24, wherein, in a case where the UE includes the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element includes a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the a-AOA.

Example 26 includes the method of any one of examples 22 to 25, wherein measuring the a-AOA and the Z-AOA is accomplished based on a search angle information element received from the LMF, the search angle information element indicating an expected a-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system.

Example 27 includes the method of example 26, further comprising: determining an expected range of the A-AOA and an expected range of the Z-AOA based on the search angle information element, the expected range of the A-AOA being from the expected A-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA to the expected A-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA being from the expected Z-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

Example 28 includes the method of any of examples 22 to 27, further comprising: obtaining N A-AOA measurements and N Z-AOA measurements by measuring the A-AOA and the Z-AOA for a first arrival path from a UE; generating N UL-AOA values based on the N A-AOA measurements and the N Z-AOA measurements; and reporting the N UL-AOA values to the LMF, wherein the value N is selected from the following set of values: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.

Example 29 includes the method of any one of examples 22 to 28, further comprising: measuring a UL-AOA of a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF; and reporting the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE to the LMF.

Example 30 includes the method of example 29, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the error margin includes an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE.

Example 31 includes the method of any one of examples 22 to 28, further comprising: encoding a reference signal for downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, measurements for a reference UE equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; and transmitting the reference signal to the reference UE.

Example 32 includes a method for a location management function, LMF, comprising: decoding an uplink angle of arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with a user equipment, UE, received from a transmission reception point, TRP; and calculating location coordinates of the UE based on the UL-AOA information element, wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of a sine function of a horizontal angle of arrival a-AOA of an uplink transmission from the UE and a sine function of a vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of the uplink transmission, and the a-AOA and the Z-AOA are measured by the TRP in a given coordinate system.

Example 33 includes the method of example 32, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a local coordinate system LCS or a global coordinate system GCS.

Example 34 includes the method of example 33, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

Example 35 includes the method of example 34, wherein, in a case where the UE includes the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element includes a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the a-AOA.

Example 36 includes the method of any of examples 32-35, further comprising: encoding a search angle information element in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating to the TRP an expected A-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the A-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system; and transmitting the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message to the TRP.

Example 37 includes the method of example 36, wherein the expected range of the a-AOA is from the expected a-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA to the expected a-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA is from the expected Z-AOA minus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

Example 38 includes the method of example 36, further comprising: a search window information element is encoded in the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating an expected propagation delay and a delay uncertainty to the TRP.

Example 39 includes the method of any one of examples 32-38, further comprising: decoding a UL-AOA of a reference UE measured and reported by the TRP based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF; decoding an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE from the TRP report; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non-line-of-sight NLOS link when a difference between the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE.

Example 40 includes the method of example 39, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, the error margin includes an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a reference uplink a-AOA and a reference uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the TRP known by the LMF.

Example 41 includes the method of any one of examples 32 to 38, further comprising: decoding a downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, of the TRP measured and reported by a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the TRP, the reference UE being equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; decoding an error margin associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP reported from the reference UE; and identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non-line of sight (NLOS) link when a difference between the measured DL-AOA of the TRP and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP.

Example 42 includes the method of example 41, wherein the measured DL-AOA of the TRP includes a measured downlink a-AOA and a measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, the error margins include an error margin associated with the measured downlink a-AOA of the TRP and an error margin associated with the measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP includes a reference downlink a-AOA and a reference downlink Z-AOA of the TRP derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the TRP known to the LMF.

Example 43 includes a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by processing circuitry of a transmission reception point TRP, cause the processing circuitry to perform a method as in any of examples 22-31.

Example 44 includes a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a location management function LMF, cause the processing circuitry to perform a method as in any of examples 32-42.

Example 45 includes an apparatus for transmitting a reception point TRP, comprising means for performing operations of the method of any one of examples 22-31.

Example 46 includes an apparatus for a location management function, LMF, comprising means for performing operations of the method of any of examples 32-42.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description, various alternative and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is intended that the embodiments described herein be limited only by the following claims and the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transmitting a reception point, TRP, comprising:

an interface circuit; and

processing circuitry coupled with the interface circuitry and configured to:

measuring a horizontal angle of arrival A-AOA and a vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of an uplink transmission from a user equipment UE in a given coordinate system;

generating an uplink angle-of-arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with the UE based on the A-AOA and the Z-AOA; and is provided with

Providing the UL-AOA information element to the interface circuitry to report the UL-AOA information element to a location management function LMF through the interface circuitry,

wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the A-AOA and the sine function of the Z-AOA.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a Local Coordinate System (LCS) or a Global Coordinate System (GCS).

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, in the case that the UE comprises the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the A-AOA.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to measure the a-AOA and the Z-AOA based on a search angle information element received from the LMF via the interface circuit, the search angle information element indicating an expected a-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the a-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine an expected range of the A-AOA and an expected range of the Z-AOA based on the search angle information element, the expected range of the A-AOA being from the expected A-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA to the expected A-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the A-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA being from the expected Z-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

obtaining N A-AOA measurements and N Z-AOA measurements by measuring the A-AOA and the Z-AOA for an first arrival path from a UE;

generating N UL-AOA values based on the N A-AOA measurements and the N Z-AOA measurements; and is provided with

Reporting the N UL-AOA values to the LMF,

wherein the value N is selected from the following set of values: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.

8. The apparatus of any of claims 1-7, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

measuring a UL-AOA of a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF; and is

Reporting the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE to the LMF.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE includes a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the error margin includes an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE.

10. The apparatus of any of claims 1-7, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

encoding a reference signal for downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, measurements for a reference UE equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF; and is

Providing the reference signal to the interface circuitry for transmission to the reference UE.

11. An apparatus for a location management function, LMF, comprising:

an interface circuit; and

a processing circuit coupled with the interface circuit and configured to:

decoding an uplink angle of arrival, UL-AOA, information element associated with a user equipment, UE, the UL-AOA information element received from a transmission reception point, TRP, via the interface circuitry; and is provided with

Calculating location coordinates of the UE based on the UL-AOA information element,

wherein, in case the UE comprises a linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element comprises a UL-AOA whose sine function is defined as the product of the sine function of the horizontal angle of arrival A-AOA of the uplink transmission from the UE and the sine function of the vertical angle of arrival Z-AOA of the uplink transmission, and the A-AOA and the Z-AOA are measured by the TRP in a given coordinate system.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the given coordinate system comprises a local coordinate system LCS or a global coordinate system GCS.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein, where the UE includes the linear antenna array, a Z-axis of the LCS is defined to coincide with a linear array axis of the linear antenna array, and the UL-AOA is the Z-AOA measured in the LCS relative to the Z-axis of the LCS.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein, in the case that the UE includes the linear antenna array, the UL-AOA information element includes a mandatory field to indicate the Z-AOA and an optional field to indicate the a-AOA.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

encoding a search angle information element in a MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating to the TRP an expected A-AOA, an expected Z-AOA, an uncertainty range of the A-AOA, an uncertainty range of the Z-AOA, and a type of the given coordinate system; and is

Providing the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message to the interface circuit for transmission to the TRP.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the expected range of the a-AOA is from the expected a-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the a-AOA to the expected a-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the a-AOA, and the expected range of the Z-AOA is from the expected Z-AOA minus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA to the expected Z-AOA plus half of the uncertainty range of the Z-AOA.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

a search window information element is encoded in the MEASUREMENT REQUEST message for indicating an expected propagation delay and a delay uncertainty to the TRP.

18. The apparatus of any of claims 11 to 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

decoding a UL-AOA of a reference UE measured and reported by the TRP based on a reference signal received from the reference UE, the reference UE having location coordinates and an antenna direction known to the LMF;

decoding an error margin associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE from the TRP report; and is provided with

Identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non-line-of-sight NLOS link when a difference between the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the measured UL-AOA of the reference UE comprises a measured uplink a-AOA and a measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, the error margin comprises an error margin associated with the measured uplink a-AOA of the reference UE and an error margin associated with the measured uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE, and the reference UL-AOA of the reference UE comprises a reference uplink a-AOA and a reference uplink Z-AOA of the reference UE derived by the LMF based on location coordinates of the reference UE and the TRP known by the LMF.

20. The apparatus of any of claims 11 to 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

decoding a downlink angle of arrival, DL-AOA, of the TRP measured and reported by a reference UE based on a reference signal received from the TRP, the reference UE being equipped with a multi-element antenna array and having location coordinates and antenna directions known to the LMF;

decoding an error margin associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP reported from the reference UE; and is provided with

Identifying a link between the reference UE and the TRP as a non-line-of-sight NLOS link when a difference between the measured DL-AOA of the TRP and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP exceeds an error tolerance associated with the measured DL-AOA of the TRP.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the measured DL-AOA of the TRP comprises a measured downlink a-AOA and a measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, the error margins include an error margin associated with the measured downlink a-AOA of the TRP and an error margin associated with the measured downlink Z-AOA of the TRP, and the reference DL-AOA of the TRP comprises a reference downlink a-AOA and a reference downlink Z-trpa of the TRP derived by the LMF based on the reference UE and the location coordinates of the TRP that are known to the LMF.